Kimi Raikonnen – the Iceman returns

The lavish-living comeback kid could be about to get revenge on Schumacher

The lavish-living comeback kid could be about to get revenge on Schumacher

When Kimi Raikkonen parted ways with Ferrari in the winter of 2009, Formula One lost a distinctive personality. One who would retire from the Monaco GP and instead of returning to the paddock, spend his afternoon drinking champagne on a cruise boat. One who would go power-boat racing in a gorilla suit, or grab an ice-cream and coke while the entire grid waited for rains to fade away so that racing may resume. One who would drive flat out at Eau Rouge through a thick plume of engine smoke, or overtake on the outside line at a soaking-wet Suzuka. One who had only raw speed to offer, and not many words.

For two years, fans waited with bated breath for his return. There were rumours linking him to McLaren, Red Bull, Renault and Williams. No one knew if he would ever come back, though, as he jumped from rallying to NASCAR trucks. It seemed like even he wasn’t sure whether he’d ever return to F1.

Despite the strongest talk linking him to Williams last autumn, by the final race of the season, the trail seemed to have gone cold again. Then came the news that Lotus (erstwhile Renault) had signed him for this season. ‘The Iceman Cometh Again’ was the most common phrase on any social media that day.

There has been a frenzy around his return. When he got into the 2010-spec Renault car, his first F1 ride in two years, media coverage obsessed about the two-day test at Valencia. After Michael Schumacher, he is the one driver who gets the fans’ excited, like no other driver on the F1 grid today.
Schumacher, however, is still Raikkonen’s shadow. When Michael was on his five-successive-championships winning streak, Kimi was seen as the one man capable of stopping him. Since replacing Schumacher at Ferrari in 2007, he remains the last drivers’ champion for the Scuderia. In his comeback year, comparisons again seem inevitable – especially since the German’s faltering return.

In a sport where the rules change every season, two years is a long time, and as Schumacher has discovered, getting your rhythm back is more difficult the older you get. That’s where Raikonnen, at last, has the edge. While the seven-time champion returned when he was forty and one of the oldest drivers on the grid, the Fin is still in his early thirties.

Better still, Raikonnen was racing competitively during his time away from F1. Schumacher was either hanging around the Ferrari pits as a consultant or racing in annual exhibition races. That doesn’t mean the Iceman will be on the pace straight away, but after a third of the season is over, he could be back to his best.

In the end, of course, Raikonnen’s return will depend on the car. If Schumacher had been driving a Red Bull these last two years, he would now be a nine-time champion. If Lotus can give a great car to Raikonnen, and he can adapt to the rapidly-degrading Pirelli tyres, the Iceman may be able to exact sweet revenge on Schumacher.

Chetan Narula is the author of History of Formula One: The Circus Comes to India